Occupations

The majority of people buried in Grange were in some way connected with farming. However, a few were involved in other business ventures as well. A salmon fishery was established here in the early nineteenth century which was owned by the Irish Society of London. The 1834 Ordnance Survey map of the area marks an ice house, fish house and fish house chimney in Cloghboy. The manager of the fishery in the 1850s was Isaac Daniel. He died in 1863 aged 63 and was buried in Grange. His daughter Mary Anne was married to James Buchanan and they lived near Tralee, Co. Kerry. According to his gravestone David Ramsay who died in 1811 aged 28 was a merchant in the city of Londonderry. Several doctors and surgeons are buried in Grange. William Nesbitt MD who died in 1825 aged 71 had been for ‘many years surgeon on the Royal Navy’. He was a member of the Nesbitt family of Cloghogle, a townland leased in freehold from the earl of Abercorn. The gravestone to Andy McCrea of Maghereagh who died in 1822 aged 22 states that he was a linen draper. The McCreas of Maghereagh were well-known in the linen business in the area. They purchased linen webs and sent them to Dublin by cart, the round trip taking a fortnight. Another McCrea family, this time of Drumgauty, the townland next to Grange, were involved in the milling business. Walter McCrea who died on 19 December 1801 aged 54 was the tenant of the mill in Drumgauty. The mill had originally been built in 1778 by Michael Cary of Prospect, but soon afterwards the lease passed to Walter McCrea.